My Case — Need Some Advice

I'm at 38 year old male. Almost 4 weeks ago, one day I woke up in the middle of the night with like buzzing/hissing ears which followed in the morning with a high pitch sound, at night it was more of a buzz and during the day it was more of high pitch sound, mostly coming from the left ear, occasionally from the right.
That same day or a day after, I had a stiff neck, I went to physical therapy within a week and he said I had pulled the neck muscle on the left and it was pretty bad I had very little motion to the right. I also noticed that opening closing my jaw a clicking sound by the joint underneath the ear. The clicking of the jaw was noticeable when eating, I hadn't noticed that until that day.
The first week I visited a ENT physical assistant which I complained about a high pitch sound he looked at my ear told me I had a lot of wax, cleaned it out and also had a hearing test done, hearing test was normal. A week after my noise was just as bad and would sometimes switch to the right, but still remained mostly on the left.
A few days later I saw another physical assistant ENT and she further cleaned the ear, and told me I had dry skin in the canal. I called my regular doctor and he ordered an MRI of ear and brain.
My MRI was done late last week (4/17) because there was no availability.
I went back to both ear Dr's, one took like 5 minutes with me, I told him about me pulling the neck muscle attached to the back of my skull on the left, he didn't believe that would cause T. He said I could take a 1 week course of steroid that it MAY help and would help the neck. The next day I went to physical therapy again and the following day I felt great, no T, all day long I was super happy. However it came back at night.

I went to see another ENT 5 days later and told him my cause and he didn't think the steroid would work. He thinks I have problems with the E tubes. Told me to continue using the flonase which I have been taking for around 4-5 weeks now.
As my therapy session continued my neck got better, and I noticed in improvement of T, somewhat of a 50% improvement. I did not take the steroid I was super concern of it causing other problems, I was scared of taking it, but maybe I should have.

My question is could there be a correlation between pulling a neck muscle and developing T? What are my chances now of a steroid working? Could it actually be the E tubes not closing or opening correctly, is there a test for this?

Few observations:
- A week before pulling the muscle I was under a lot of stress and had anxiety (about 5 weeks ago)
- T improved about 2 weeks after (about 50%+), during the day was mostly a high pitch sound now is mostly a hiss. Saw improvement after having physical therapy done, not sure if they are correlated.
- Mostly on my left (I pulled the muscle on the left).
- Weird sensations around the ears mostly on the left, sometimes pressure or sense of fullness, sometimes discomfort or mild mild pain, all these symptoms are going away as of lately.
- MRI of brain and Ear are OK (nothing found)
- Hearing test is normal
- Had a few days with almost zero T.
- T is mostly a hiss now , but watching TV will make it sound like a higher pitch sound and seems to get aggravated.
- Blood lab tests are normal, blood pressure is normal.
- My neck feels almost fine now, range of motion is fine with no discomfort.
- 2 days ago my jaw finally started feeling normal, no more clicking
- Inside of a quiet room the hiss is mild, seems to get aggravated with some sounds
- Doctors don't seem interested in trying to find the cause.
- Saw a neurologist had an in office exam, said I'm fine, said to check with my doctor about the noise
- Didn't see much of an improvement in T this past week which is what has me worried, previous weeks I noticed and improvement.
- Call me crazy but noticed scratching my head around the ears on the top reduced the symptom significantly for about 15 - 20 seconds.
- Ive had issues with my left ear before, it would hurt just touching it from the outside, but would resolve on its own.

 

Hey Uri, bummer that you are going through this whole T thing. It is early days yet and so I can understand your apprehension towards finding the cause. Have you been taking any medication lately? You may wish to consider seeing a maxillofacial consultant to rule out TMJ. You could also look at the way you sleep at night, your neck should be perfectly straight and supported.

 

Uri,

I would discuss taking Prednisone, with your ENT or PCP. In some cases it can help.

Sailboardman